Gendered personality dispositions, hormone values, and hot flushes during and after menopause.

The study aim was to test the relationship between gendered personality dispositions (GPD), sex hormones, and vasomotor complaints in the menopausal transition. Fifty-seven healthy women (mean age 51.1 years, standard deviation 2.0) were drawn from a population registry. At enrollment all women were menstruating regularly, and all women reached menopause in the course of the study. Questionnaire data and blood samples were collected once a year over a period of five years. GPD scores (based on the Bem Sex-Role Inventory, BSRI), frequencies of hot flushes and hormone data (estradiol, follicle-stimulating hormone, luteinizing hormone, testosterone, androstendione and dehydroepiandrostendione sulfate) were determined. Subjects were placed into four categories based on the BSRI: masculine, feminine, androgynous and undifferentiated. GPD did not change during the menopausal transition. Testosterone and androstendione were related to GPD in that testosterone and androstendione were higher in the sex typed categories (masculine and feminine) than in the non sex-typed categories (androgynous and undifferentiated). GPD are related both to androgens and to vasomotor complaints such as hot flushes during the menopausal transition, but the mechanisms of these relationships are not known.

The analysis of the complement activation product SC5 b-9 is applicable in neonates in spite of their profound C9 deficiency.

Native complement factors and complement activation products were measured in healthy neonates (n = 72) and in a group of infants with premature prolonged rupture of the membranes (PPROM) without sepsis (n = 10). Vitronectin concentration in normal cord blood was not correlated with gestational age, and the median value was 86.0% of adult values. This was markedly higher than other native complement factors studied (factor B: 35.9%, C4: 45.1%, C3: 56.2%). The concentration of C9 showed a positive correlation with gestational age and was very low, 10.8% of normal adult values in cord blood and 8.3% in the patients. Fifteen percent of the neonates had C9 levels lower than 2% of adult values. The complement activation products Bb and SC5 b-9 were significantly elevated in the patients (159% and 130% of control values, respectively), indicating alternative and terminal pathway activation. In contrast, C4 bc and C3 bc levels were not increased. The maximum amount of SC5 b-9 which could be generated in the neonatal sera by cobra venom factor was highly correlated with C9 concentration (rs = 0.86, p = 0.0001) The profound C9 deficiency found in neonates is correlated with gestational age, limits the capacity to form bacteriolytic C5 b-9 (m) and may predispose for severe invasive bacterial infection. The plasma level of SC5 b-9 under normal conditions was very low, only 0.3% (0.1%-3.0%) of the values obtained after CVF activation of the same samples. Therefore, we suggest that the analysis of SC5 b-9 is applicable also in neonates, in spite of their extremely low C9 levels.

The endocrine transition around menopause--a five years prospective study with profiles of gonadotropines, estrogens, androgens and SHBG among healthy women.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the hormonal changes during the menopausal transition in a non-clinical population. METHODS: Fifty-nine healthy Norwegian women participated in a five year prospective longitudinal study during the transition from pre- to post-menopause, starting one to four years before menopause, and ending one to four years postmenopausal. None of these women were given hormone replacement therapy (HRT). Blood samples were collected every 12 months and luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), steroid hormone binding globuline (SHBG), prolactin (PRL), estradiol (E2), estrone (E1), testosterone, androstendione, dehydroepiandrostendione-sulphate (DHEA-S), and thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) were analyzed. RESULTS: The serum levels of FSH and LH, E2 and E1 profile essentially confirmed previous data obtained in cross-sectional studies. A continuous increase in serum FSH and LH and a concomitant fall in E2 and E1 were observed in all women before menopause and in the two postmenopausal years. Both androstendione and testosterone showed a decline three years before menopause. After the menopause, however, there were fluctuations in the testosterone levels. Androstendione correlated positively with both E2 and E1 and testosterone postmenopausally. Body mass index (BMI) did correlate with testosterone, but not with androstendione. BMI correlated negatively with SHBG. No correlation was found between BMI and E2, E1, FSH and LH. CONCLUSION: This longitudinal prospective study of hormonal changes during the transition from pre- to postmenopause indicates that not only estrogen hormonal changes, but androgen hormonal changes as well, precedes the menopause by several years.